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By: Tracy Jones
It's Not So Easy
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As the hour to open the ballroom approaches, Carr's team is still tweaking the lighting, but the plan is to reveal the room to everyone at once. A large group begins crowding the doors, making Smiley and the chairs nervous, and they cross their fingers that the moment will be worth it.
It is. More than 50 servers decked out in authentic Indian turbans and jackets wait silently under the soft lighting. There's no evidence of a gym behind the waves of silk, and the fuchsia tents hide not only the ceiling but also the pulleys that an ironworker has created to suspend the panels. Those who worried about the field-house floor are relieved to find it protected by a stiletto-proof covering.
After the dinner, dancing and bidding are done, the evening has netted $560,000. In a difficult year, the chairs have pulled off the impossible.
A ball has come home.
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